Nature's Jewels

While visiting my family in California, my mother and father and I took a tour around the Academy of Sciences, where my brother works. For the first time in a long while, I felt curious and wide-eyed. Despite the post-Christmas crowds, everything seemed beautiful and wonderous. I found jewels throughout the museum, like...

Pearl

Emerald

Coral

Gold

Opal

I also met Missa from Thrift Candy in person! I swallowed my thudding heart and approached her (I always get nervous approaching people, even those I know personally), and she was very sweet! While I as living in London, I saw Susie Bubble at my Tube stop, and I didn't say anything. I vowed to never let another opportunity like that pass me again. And I'm glad I didn't!

Molasses In My Veins

During my visit to my parent's house, my brother introduced me to the band mewithoutyou. I love the playfulness music is taking these days, and mewithoutyou indulges like none other. Baroque pop bands are great at making beauty out of simple tales, weaving stories of darkness and the macabre. I feel with bands such as these (The Decemberists, Neutral Milk Hotel), that you could find them playing on a street corner for change, and not losing an ounce of their appeal.

The video below is especially enchanting and charming (the literal "string" of expletives is hilarious). Please enjoy!

mewithoutYou - The Fox, the Crow, and the Cookie from David Bell on Vimeo.

Holiday Tradition

My family and I have never been big on traditions around the holidays. Scavenger hunts, Chinese food, and doing away with Christmas all together and celebrating the Solstice have all appeared as acceptable holiday activities on multiple occasions, but certainly not repeatedly, every year.

Lacking on the tradition front, my friend Richard and I started our own tradition. Every year, we make a holiday card, posing as a couple from a play or movie. The first year, we were George and Martha from Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.


The next year, we took another serious turn with Harper and Prior from Angels in America.


We went a little bit more lighthearted the next year and featured Holly and Fred from Breakfast at Tiffany's.


This year we decided to spin the tradition and be ourselves, kind of.


Happy holidays! Any ideas on what we should do next year?

Outfit of the Week: Uma Umbrella

Umbrella: Red Light Vintage

Photos: Lady Leila

Uma Umbrella goes nowhere without her trusty parasol, Prescilla. In the summery, sunny months, the umbrella's red plaid casts a rosy glow on her skin, making her look wildly in love with the world. Her umbrella protects her from the rain, and she loves the sound of droplets hitting the taut cloth, creating a tilted rhythm. Uma loves to use Prescilla in her tap routines, twirling and posing with her as she spins on the stage. While Uma adores dressing in cabaret garb, feather headdresses and discarded bridesmaid dresses, Prescilla is always the center of attention, the piece that pulls the outfit together, and functional accessory, protector, and stage prop.

I'd Have Him Teach Me Any Day

I had a friend visiting from out of town, and one night we went to the picture show at the Egyptian, a grand old movie house complete with a balcony, ornate gold walls, and a red curtain that pulls back when the picture is about to start. We saw An Education, which I've been anticipating for months. Despite the predictable story line, I was enchanted. Peter Sarsgaard's seamless transition from charismatic to creepy and Cary Mulligan's amazing performance were enough to keep my toes all curled and biting my lip, but I couldn't help but sigh whistfully at the clothes.

Should you have the chance, see this movie. The opening credits are worth the price of admission!

Twistin' The Night Away

Every second Saturday of every month, there is a very special night at the Lo-Fi Performance Gallery in Seattle. Soul Night, hosted by Emerald City Soul Club, is my absolute favorite night of dancing. It's hard to describe the exhilaration that is Northern Soul dancing. The music moves you the way it wants. Shrugging shoulders, stomping heels, half-closed fists and twisting hips. It's the sweetest to see couples wrapped in each other, hands clasping waists, guys twirling gals. My common law camrade once got flipped upside down by a guy in a bow tie!

This past Soul Night was Rare Soul Weekender. That afternoon, Lady Leila and I went to a Northern Soul record swap. We met one of the founders of Soul Night, who gave us a deal on the 45s we were clutching. Some of our favorites: Aretha Franklin "Soulville", The Vibrations "And I Love Her" cover, Jennell Hawkins "Money", and Etta James "Lay Back Daddy".


Because we've going for over a year now, we've garnered a small group of regulars we see once a month. We wanted to let people know how much we love their company, how rad their dancing is, and just how cool they are! So we made little gifts to pass out.


Here's a better view of the dress I chose to wear last time, and below is one of my favorite Sam Cooke songs. Should you be in the Seattle area, check out Soul Night at the Lo-Fi, hosted by Emeral City Soul Club!

You Are What You Love

I have been absent from blogging too long. I've been bottling up what I need to say. While my blog and other blogs out there, which I look to for inspiration and have come to adore, offered me respite, I feel now that this may offer relief.

During the last month, I saw glimmers of what was my former life returning to me. I had two high-profile job interviews, had gotten on a semi-regular schedule and starting cooking and exercising again, and the trees were blushing and the air tasted of woodsmoke. When the two jobs fell through and the clouds literally began rolling in, I took it all to heart and my toes were clutching the edge. I felt something was fundamentally wrong. This was not what I had worked four hard years for. My honors degree was a waste of time. When further blows were delivered, I felt myself sink to the bottom of an icy chasm. My breath was frozen and ragged, and when I closed my eyes I saw everything distilled by watery blue depths.

But then I woke up. I took a breath. I realized that a lot of what I had, what I coveted, was based on some fabrication of whether I was greater than, less than, or equal to others. Did I work harder than so and so? Did I dress better than her? Was I more articulate that he? While this rhythm had become a central part of my person, I saw for the toxic habit that it was. So I swallowed myself whole, and started to piece together who I wanted to be. A person I could love.

And so I'm working. The people I pushed away have welcomed me back with open arms. New people have swung into my life and shed light on the important things, like living in the moment and the perfect pair of zebra-printed shoes. I found out earlier in the week that the vintage store where I was working as a seasonal employee has hired me on permanently. My manager is even letting me take time off for interviews and will understand if I get another job (with the freedom I have now, I can apply for jobs I actually want, instead of everything that crosses my desk). I am wrapping myself in my own arms, taking pleasure in early morning running and stretching, and surrounding myself with images of love.





Thank you, everyone and everything. Thank you thank you thank you.